Turkey rescues dozens after powerful quake kills 41
After a deadly tremor struck Turkey's east, rescue teams worked around the clock to save dozens from a disaster that sparked both an outpouring of support and fears about the country's unpreparedness for such events.
ISTANBUL — The death toll from a 6.8-magnitude earthquake that hit eastern Turkey rose to 41 people on Monday after rescue workers pulled the last two missing victims from the rubble three days after disaster struck, a bitter reminder of the vulnerability of a country straddling active fault lines.
The powerful quake hit the eastern province of Elazig on Friday night, toppling scores of buildings and setting off a race against time to pull trapped women, children and men from the wreckage in freezing temperatures.
Emergency crews saved 45 people as hundreds of aftershocks rocked the area, including two-year-old Yusra Yildiz and her mother Ayse, 35, some 24 hours after they were trapped. Yusra’s father and brother both died.
Husband and wife Zulkuf and Durdane Aydin were reunited with their savior, Mahmud al-Osman, after a video went viral of her thanking him for digging her out of the rubble with his bare hands. Durdane called Osman, a Syrian refugee studying at Elazig’s university, “our hero.”
